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FORM: Sending Crystal
SENDER: Adelaide LeBlanc
RECIPIENT: Everyone
WHAT: Questions for Shardbearers
WHEN: Guardian 22
WHERE: Emprise Du Lion, heard by all
NOTES: Research Questionnaire for people that have shiny things on/in their person.

This message is for anyone that has a shard in their hand, their chest, or otherwise on their person; Rifter or Thedosian or otherwise. If you are so fortunate or unfortunate depending upon your view of the shard as to have one I've questions for you in the interest of better understanding that which you have and what it means for your health, the world around you, and how likely it is you might attract demons in your sleep. At my current best estimate the odds are high in on last but I tend to err on assuming the worst and being pleasantly surprised when the world doesn't rain down fire, death, and the undead.

If you would rather speak in person and are in Emprise du Lion- I can be found in my healing tent. If not? I will return to Skyhold at the end of Guardian if you would prefer to wait to speak face to face or am available at all hours on the crystals.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Kain certainly doesn't plan to return to that Mire anytime soon, either. He'd been very turned off from that 'welcome'. Still, he'd met someone with the Inquisition soon after that arrival and things had carried on from there.]

That's right. I feared otherwise at first, given how painful it was... but within the days that followed, the sensation disappeared. The shard is in my dominant hand, but I've been able to grip my weapon and fight without difficulty.

[You have no idea how relieved he was when that hand felt normal again.]

Apparently being near or interacting with rifts will cause the pain to return- better that you are forewarned for that. [ No loss of sensation or grip strength, good. ] No lingering aches along your hand or wrist in the interim?

I've avoided rifts so far, so that's good to know. [Just luck, in some ways, he's been out of the area when there's been some to deal with. But he knows he can't avoid them entirely.] No lingering aches, no. If it weren't so noticeable, I'd barely be aware of its presence.

[ The scratching of a pen to parchment as she takes note of this. ]

Have your dreams been much the same as they were when you were in your own world?

[Kain thinks about this a moment. It's not something he pays a whole lot of attention to, really... unless it's bad. He's definitely had his share of nightmares back home. Though it does seem an odd question, he figures out a possible connection based on something he was told about.]

Nothing unusual since I've arrived here. I don't think they've changed at all... This is to do with the Fade, isn't it?

It does. I am attempting to determine whether or not Rifters have the same connection to the Fade as those of this world- and if it may cause complications for you should that be the case.

Right. I understand, given what I've been told so far about the world… they're important questions to ask. [He’d rather know if something were wrong, if being here has done something irreversible to him.] I haven’t noticed anything amiss with dreams that I can tell though. Is there any direct way to know whether or not that connection to the Fade is there? Any sort of dreams I should be wary of?

[He’s guessing it's not so easy, hence the questions, but it’s still worth asking, he figures.]

Figures offering power or influence in return for an agreement- a lucidity to those interactions your normal dreams lack. Anything where your wildest desires are on offer as Desire demons are the most commonly encountered.

Testing for a connection like that- it may require an attempt at fade meditation but without knowing for certain? It is not something I would wish to attempt with a rifter. For if there is that connection to the fade but you have never before encountered it? There is danger. If you do not- nothing might happen or you might dream as you would in your own world and that is somewhere I cannot follow to guide you back.

[Kain feels an inner sense of dread at the very thought of it all. It reminds him too much of the mind control that Golbez and Zemus had used on him, the manipulation that tricked him into thinking he'd be stronger, better than ever. False promises, all of it. He fears what would happen if he ever faced this world's demons. He's not so sure he has it in him to resist, given his past.]

[It takes him a moment to reply, all of these thoughts running though his mind.]

I've not encountered anything like that in any dreams, and certainly nothing like that here. I'll remain on guard all the same. It seems that's the most that can be done... All of it sounds as if it's something best not tampered with if we don't have to.

If there were a way to be certain and test it, and do so safely? I would have more to offer you. I am sorry I cannot. [ It is as frustrating for her as it must be frightening for them. ] Should that change? Please let me know. I hope you never have cause to learn otherwise, truly.

I understand. It doesn't sound worth the risk. [Kain is all about taking risks, when it comes to fighting, and so forth. Not so much when it comes to messing with his mind somehow, with dreams and other things like that.] I'll be certain to inform you if it does... Is there anything else you need to know?

Have you attempted to close any rifts, or been exposed to any veilfire since you've arrived?

No, I haven't. I've avoided being near any rifts, so far. I didn't want to aggravate the mark. [He doesn't like to admit it, but he's a little bit afraid of something going awry with it, it's on his dominant hand and all.] What's veilfire?

Fire that is green and has some resonance with the Fade. I fear I cannot offer more than that- but you would know it were you to encounter it. The shards react to it much the same as they do rifts.

Then I'd just as soon avoid it, if I can. Do you know if it's very common? Or at least where it appears?

[The more he knows, the better, though he wonders if it's only a matter of time before he really does have to deal with something like a rift, or anything else that might cause a reaction from this thing.]

I last saw it in the Fallow Mire- and have heard of it appearing around Elven ruins. But little more other than that.

I'm glad to hear it's not very common... at least there's that. But these rifts... it seems they could appear almost anywhere, at any time?

[That's... something to majorly be wary of.]

I could not tell you. I have seen two open and there was little sign of what might have happened before they suddenly tore themselves into being. It is something else I hope to learn more of so I might provide better answers.

I hope you're able to uncover those answers. It seems there's a lot that's still unknown about all of this...

[Which is quite troubling.]

The more we learn the better able to help you we shall be. The only way to learn at the moment, unfortunately, is to ask. If there are any changes- to the dreams, the shard, or your hand? Please let me know as soon as you are able. No matter how large or small.

Then you've my thanks, for doing this investigation. I'll be sure to let you know if anything does change.

[He seriously hopes nothing changes for the worse.]